Spermine and sperimidine are polyamines which occur widely in animal and plant tissue. Sperimidine wll be nitrosated and the non-volatile nitrosation products will be extracted from the reaction mixture with ethyl acetate. The trifluoroacetate derivatives of the hydroxylated nitrosamines will be prepared and separated by gas chromatography. Mass spectrometry, and IR and NMR spectroscopy, will be used to characterize the individual nitrosamines. Current evidence suggest that 3-hydroxy-N-nitrosopyrrolidine occurs in fried bacon and 4-hydroxy-N-nitrosoproline occurs in raw bacon. Work will continue on the development of suitable methods for the analysis of these nitrosamines in food products. A project will be initiated to determine the dose-response curve for nitrosopyrrolidine in the diet of rainbow trout. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Hildrum, K. I., Williams, J. L. and Scanlan, R. A. Effect of Sodium Chloride Concentration on the Nitrosation of Proline at Different pH Levels. J. Agric. Food Chem. 23, 439, 1975. Scanlan, R.A. N-Nitrosamines in Foods. CRC Critical Reviews in Food Technology, 5, 357, 1975.